Book shaped educational amusement device

ABSTRACT

A book shaped educational amusement device has outer covers that can be moved between open and closed positions. Three dimensional removable educational material and a message carrier such as printed sheets making reference to said educational material are disposed near each other, each on a respective cover. The material and said printed sheets in the closed position of the covers are positioned laterally relative to each other while the material projects with its face beyond the confines of the collected printed sheets towards the outer surface of an opposite cover.

United States Patent 1 1 Apr. 25, 1972 Greubel 1541 BOOKSHAPEDEDUCATIONAL AMUSEMENT DEVICE [72] Inventor: Jurgen Greubel, Sc'honeAussicht, Ger- 1 many [73] Assignee: Braun Aktienge sellschalt,Frankfurt/Main,

I Germany [22 Filed: Sept. 24, 1970 [21] AppL'No; 75,114

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 8. 1969' Germany ..73MRQ7671 Feb. 10. 1970 Germany P 2005 981.8

52 us. c1. ..2s1 31, 35/8 R 511 1111. C1. ..B42d 3412,0091) 1/00 {58]FieldofSearch ..281/3l;283/46;35/l,8,35E

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,538,085 1 1951 com;..35/35 E x Peck ..281/31 1,729,518 9/1929 Newman ..281/31 781,9482/1905 l-legele 841,360 1/1907 Tuck 2,694,264 11/1954 Seaton ..283/46 XFOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 2,208 1914 Great Britain ..28 1/31Primary Examiner-Wm. H. Grieb An0rneyErnest F. Marmorek [57] ABSTRACT Abook shaped educational amusement device has outer covers that can bemoved between open and closed positions. Three dimensional removableeducational material and a message carrier such as printed sheets makingreference to said educational material are disposed near each other,each on a respective cover. The material and said printed sheets in theclosed position of the covers are positioned laterally relative to eachother while the material projects with its face beyond the confines ofthe collected printed sheets towards the outer surface of an oppositecover.

6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures BOOK SHAPED EDUCATIONAL AMUSEMENT DEVICEReference is made to my copending design U.S. Pat. application, Ser. No.D-22,334, filed Apr. 8, 1970.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a book shapededucational amusement device. A large number of such devices exist,having varied contents, common to all of them, however, is the bookshaped form and construction. In other words the conventional device hastwo outer covers with sheets which are arranged between said covers andare connected to same, said sheets containing the text andillustrations.

F old-out plates are also used in part where the subject to bevisualized is of great importance as far as it concerns the referenceand can be represented in a better manner in the form of pictures anddrawings. Plates are also known, consisting of pictures which can befolded one on top of the other and which, in this manner, simulate athreedimensional effect. This is the case, for example, in biologytextbooks, where skeletons and the physiology of animals and humans areshown in a superimposed manner. These fold-out plates are, however,affixed to the book in a similar manner as are the other pages of thebook and from a dimensional viewpoint, are already limited in theirpossibilities.

Moreover, where the information is directed to entire series ofsubjects, the book, which is made in the aforedescribed conventionalmanner, can no longer fulfill its task in an optimum manner. The reasonbeing that the described possibilities with respect to graphicalrepresentations and explanations are not sufficient for said purpose.For example, in the case of subjects dealing with natural sciences, upto now the problem was solved by compiling or creating the requiredillustrative material in accordance with the explanations furnished inthe reference book, in order to use this illustrative material in anappropriate manner in addition to studying the book itself. The task ofthe reference book, namely to transmit knowledge and skill in a cohesiveorderly form, in an integrated system is greatly hindered by theabovementioned'procedure.

Last but not least, another difficulty arises from the fact that theillustrative material which corresponds to the printed text in the bookis not always readily at ones disposal.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION One of the principal objects of thepresent invention is to eliminate these disadvantages.

It is another object of the present invention to make it possible tohave selected and properly arranged textual material, namelyintelligence messages, and also so-called practice material, namelypractical, educational material, at ones disposal in the device itself.The educational material is thus available for use alone, in each case,together with the printed text, thereby helping the reader to gain anoptimum understanding of the treated subject matter.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a device which issimple and positive in operation.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a device whichhas relatively few mechanical parts and is relatively inexpensive tomake and use.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth inpart in the following specification and in part will be obvioustherefrom without being specifically referred to, the same beingrealized and attained as pointed out in the claims hereof.

Broadly speaking, the device designed in accordance with the presentinvention is characterized by the fact that it may be opened and closedand carries the intelligence message including, in certain cases,illustrations as well as three dimensional practical educationalmaterial. The message carrier makes reference to the educationalmaterial. The educational material, when the covers are closed, is suchthat it projects with its face beyond the confines of the messagecarrier towards the outer surface of the opposite cover and ispositioned laterally relative to the message carrier. Thus, in theclosed position, the educational material with its support between thecovers has a greater thickness than the message carrier.

The foregoing is carried out by insuring that the message carrier of thedevice which is arranged in the customary manner for reading is arrangedat the inner side of one of the outer covers of the book, whereas theeducational material is arranged at the inner side of the other outercover of the device and is releasably held there. The device furthermorehas a spine in a customary manner having a width such that the two outercovers of the device lie parallel to one another when the covers areclosed. This design also has the advantage that the device, when viewedas a whole, has a compact appearance and is handy to use.

The message carrier may, for example, include printed matter, such astext and illustrations, but need not be restricted thereto. 1

In a further development, the sheets of the book are firmly connected toone another, in a conventional manner, along a common edge, while thoseedges which lie on the opposite side, may be held together by means ofanangular butt strap. The strap is elastic and can be bent in an upwarddirection and is connected to the inner side of the outer cover of thedevice; said strap extends with its free side over the top of themessage carrier. The foregoing allows for efficient handling of thedevice. At the same time, it permits the reader to have, in use, anunobstructed view for reading the message; yet without danger ofdamaging the message carrier during the opening or closing of thedevice.

The strap can moreover serve as a bookmark when the device is open.

The message carrier may include a plurality of sheets, and the lowermostsheets be positioned at the inner side of one of the outer covers. Thisis done by insertion of the bottom-most sheet into a pocket or the like.The pocket is arranged on this outer cover. This allows for laterinsertion of supplementary messages, such as in hand-written form.

The holding device for the educational material includes at least aportion of the inner side of the outer cover in the form of a shell orcasing. The shell, which defines a cavity, that includes recesses and/orelevations, receives the educational material. For this purpose, all ofthe segments of the device can be coordinated in an advantageous mannerwith respect to shape and dimensions so that when the device is closedby closing the covers, the shell-like construction of one of the innersides of the cover together with the educational material which ishoused therein will lie either completely, or in part, next to themessage carrier.

All of the aforementioned items, namely the intelligence messages andthe material are contained between the covers of the device which liesubstantially parallel to one another, when closed.

Thus, when the device is closed, it has the appearance of a fairly thinbook in which the various study parts, namely the message and thematerial, are arranged in a compact form. This may be further improvedby means of counter recesses or counter elevations which are providednear the intelligence messages on the inner side of the cover inlocations corresponding to the elevations and recesses of the cavity onthe other cover when the covers are closed, thereby providing aform-locking holding set-up for the educational material. Thus, there isrendered unnecessary any additional mounting for the individualcomponents of the educational material located in the shell section.

Finally, in certain given cases, it may be advantageous to provide thedevice with an outer jacket which is either completely transparent orpartially transparent. For example, such as when the portions of theeducational material which can be recognized under the transparentjacket have such a form or are labeled in such manner and are arrangedin their housing in such manner, that the subject matter or the title ofthe material therein can be deduced therefrom and it is not necessary toprovide an additional graphical design of the outer book cover.

To provide means for the connection of both covers when the device isclosed, also represents a further development of the device designed inaccordance with the present invention. In the case of the instantinvention to a greater degree than educational amusement devicesproduced in the conventional manner it is important to hold togetherfirmly all the pans of the device when the covers are closed, so as tobe able to transport and store same in any desired manner. For thispurpose there may be used a butt strap with a push button on one coverof the device and a counter push button on the other cover.

With the above and other objects of the invention in view, the inventionconsists in the novel construction, arrangement and combination ofvarious devices, elements and parts, as set forth in the claims hereof,one embodiment of the same being illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings and described in the specification.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction,combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will beexemplified in a construction hereinafter set forth and the scope of theapplication of which will be indicated in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings,

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the educational amusement device designed inaccordance with the present invention in the open position;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal elevational view in the direction of the arrow AofFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the device in the closed position; and

FIG. 4 is a horizontal elevational view in the direction of the arrow BofFlG. 3.

In carrying the invention into effect in one of the embodiments whichhas been selected for illustration in the accompanying drawings and fordescription in this specification, there is provided a device having aspine 5 and outer covers 1 and 2. At the inner side of the first coverI, a message carrier such as for instance printed sheets 3 are affixed,arranged in a customary manner for reading purposes. The educationalmaterial 4 is removable, and is arranged at the inner side of the secondor outer cover 2 and held there. The printed sheets 3 are conventionallysolidly attached to one another, for example glued together along theircommon edge 6. On the side 7 which lies opposite the edge 6, the printedsheets 3 are held together by means of a free side 8 of an elasticangular butt strap 9 which can be bent in an upward direction. This isaccomplished by the free side 8 extending over the upper-most printedsheet 3. The printed sheets 3 are arranged in an orderly manner forreading purposes by their connection along the common edge 6 forming apad. The printed sheets 3 can be affixed at the inner side of the outercover 1 by inserting the bottom-most sheet into a pocket (not shown)which is arranged at the aforementioned inner side of cover 1. Thepocket coincides with the area of the printed sheets 3. A gluing edgefor this pocket is indicated in FIG. 1, on the inner side of the firstcover 1.

As best shown in FIG. 2 of the drawings, one portion of the inner sideof the outer cover 2 has a shell or casing 10 like construction thatforms a cavity that includes recesses and elevations 16, all as shown.The recesses 16 receive the individual components 4 of theabovementioned educational material 4.

There is depicted on portions of the educational material 4, as well ason portions of printed sheets 3, inscriptions, letterings orcharacteristic signs or other graphical illustrations 17. In a preferredembodiment there is used an electro-technical textbook, and theeducational material 4 accordingly consists of different electricalcomponent parts and other electrical accessory parts which can begrouped together into different circuit arrangements by placing them ona magnetic or magnetizable plate 18. The plate 18 fonns a base for thematerial and is mounted on the inner side of the outer cover 2. In theforegoing arrangement the educational material 4 is magneticallyattractable to each other while at the same time attractable to saidplate 18. In the ease of the aforementioned arrangement when said deviceis closed, the shell 10 of the outer cover 2 lies next to the pad ofprinted sheets 3, namely between the outer parallel covers 1 and 2.

When the device is closed, counter recesses 11 arranged in anappropriate location in the first cover 1, serve as a formlockingholding device for the educational material 4 which is housed in theshell 10 and lie next to the printed sheets 3 upon the closing of thedevice. Thus there is formed a first cavity including a series of firstdepressions 16, while the inner side of the first cover 1 has acorresponding series of second depressions 11 which are disposedopposite the first depressions 16 when the covers 1-2 are closed.

FIG. 4 shows the device in which a portion of the first cover 1 ispartly cut off for easier understanding of the drawing. When the deviceis closed, a butt strap 12 with a push button 13, both of which aresecured to the first cover 1, together with a counter push button 14,located on the outer cover 2 serve for the connection of both devicecovers 1 and 2. The foregoing arrangement provides for retention of allcomponent parts of the device, so that it can be transported or set upin any desired manner.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the counter recesses 11which are provided in the cover 1 are made of a transparent material,for example a celluloid material or of a cast acrylic resin, such as amethyl methacrylate like substance, but not limited thereto. As shown inFIG. 3 one is able to view the portions of the educational materialthrough the closed cover 2. This visible arrangement of the material 4renders an inscription on the outer cover 1 unnecessary.

The upper-most and bottom-most parts of the printed sheets 3, all ofwhich may be provided in the customary manner with text portions andillustrations made out of cardboard are thicker than each of theindividual remaining sheets. Instead of the manner shown in FIG. 1 thecommon edge 6 along which the printed sheets 3 are connected to oneanother could also be the upper, horizontal, or shorter edge of saidsheets 3.

As clearly seen in the drawings the educational material 4 when placedin its respective shell 16 has with the shell 16 a combined heightgreater than that of the printed sheets 3 and furthermore is able toreach into the counter recess or second depression 11 of the oppositecover.

I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to theexact details of construction shown and described, for obviousmodifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire tobe secured by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. A book shaped educational amusement device, comprising two coversmovable relative to each other between open and closed positions andeach cover having an inner and an outer side,

a message carrier disposed adjacent one of said covers and arranged in astacked form having a predetermined thickness, and

three dimensional educational material disposed adjacent the othercover,

said message including reference to said material,

said material and message carrier in the closed position of said coversbeing positioned laterally adjacent relative to each other, and thematerial projecting with its face beyond the confines of said messagecarrier towards the outer surface of said one cover wherein said messagecarrier is releasably disposed on the inner side of said one cover andsaid educational material is releasably disposed on the inner side ofsaid other cover, and holding means operable to connect releasably saidmessage carrier and said educational material to the respective cover,and a spine interconnecting said covers and having a width sufficient sothat the outer sides of both of said covers lie substantially parallelto each other when said device is in the closed position and a shellformed near the inner side of said other cover and defining a cavityoperative to receive said educational material, wherein said cavity ofsaid other cover includes a series of first depressions, said inner sideof said one cover has a corresponding series of second depressions whichare disposed opposite said first depressions when the covers are closed,said depressions in the closed cover position cooperating to lock saideducational material.

2. A device, as claimed in claim 1, saidmessage carrierincluding aninstruction book having a plurality of sheets, and strap means mountedon the inner side of said one cover and operable to hold releasably saidinstruction book flat against said one cover.

3. A device, as claimed in claim 1, said message carrier ineluding aplurality of instruction sources in sheet form, and l holding meansretaining the sheets releasably in position near said one cover.

4. A device, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the overall thickness ofsaid shell and said educational material in said shell is greater thanthe thickness of said message carrier when said covers are in the closedposition.

5. A device, as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one of said coversincludes a portion of transparent material, the respective depressionsbeing formed on said portion, whereby the portions of educationalmaterial are visible through one of said closed covers.

6. A device, as claimed in claim 1, together with a magnetizable plate,said educational material being magnetically attractable to each otherand to said plate so that said plate forms a base on which the materialis assembled and held together magnetically.

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1. A book shaped educational amusement device, comprising two covers movable relative to each other between open and closed positions and each cover having an inner and an outer side, a message carrier disposed adjacent one of said covers and arranged in a stacked form having a predetermined thickness, and three dimensional educational material disposed adjacent the other cover, said message including reference to said material, said material and message carrier in the closed position of said covers being positioned laterally adjacent relative to each other, and the material projecting with its face beyond the confines of said message carrier towards the outer surface of said one cover wherein said message carrier is releasably disposed on the inner side of said one cover and said educational material is releasably disposed on the inner side of said other cover, and holding means operable to connect releasably said message carrier and said educational material to the respective cover, and a spine interconnecting said covers and having a width sufficient so that the outer sides of both of said covers lie substantially parallel to each other when said device is in the closed position and a shell formed near the inner side of said other cover and defining a cavity operative to receive said educational material, wherein said cavity of said other cover includes a series of first depressions, said inner side of said one cover has a corresponding series of second depressions which are disposed opposite said first depressions when the covers are closed, said depressions in the closed cover position cooperating to lock said educational material.
 2. A device, as claimed in claim 1, said message carrier including an instruction book having a plurality of sheets, and strap means mounted on the inner side of said one cover and operable to hold releasably said instruction book flat against said one cover.
 3. A device, as claimed in claim 1, said message carrier including a plurality of instruction sources in sheet form, and holding means retaining the sheets releasably in position near said one cover.
 4. A device, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the overall thickness of said shell and said educational material in said shell is greater than the thickness of said message carrier when said covers are in the closed position.
 5. A device, as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one of said covers includes a portion of transparent material, the respective depressions being formed on said portion, whereby the portions of educational material are visible through one of said closed covers.
 6. A device, as claimed in claim 1, together with a magnetizable plate, said educational material being magnetically attractable to each other and to said plate so that said plate forms a base on which the material is assembled and held together magnetically. 